Polytech students paint truck, thrill Raritan Twp. owner

Every semester the auto body students at Hunterdon County Polytech take in cars and small trucks from the public for painting and body work.

Raritan Township resident Steve Philips recently had his 1981 Dodge Dakota pickup painted and is thrilled by the results.

“The attention to detail and the remarkable finish far exceeded our expectations,” he said. “We enjoyed getting to meet some talented students. We really enjoy showing off their work."

Right after school started last fall, Spencer Goldman, auto body instructor at Polytech Career Academy, agreed to have his class prep and paint the truck. Although the truck is mechanically sound, much of the original paint had flaked off. Areas of the truck that Phillips had sanded and primed were developing even more rust.

When he dropped off the truck at Polytech last October, Phillips didn’t know what to expect. When he visited Goldman at the school two weeks after leaving the truck, he was pleasantly surprised.

“The students had sanded the majority of the truck down to bare metal,” Phillips said. “All rubber trim, lights and bumpers had been removed.

“Then, the primer coats were applied, followed by more sanding. Every visit showed progress, proving that every phase of the project was being done with great care. The project was briefly interrupted thanks to Hurricane Sandy, but by the end of the term, the Dakota was road-ready.”

Phillips noted that the work of the students with guidance from Goldman was superior from start to finish. “My expectations were exceeded,” he said. “Thanks to the Polytech craftsman, an old truck lives again. Thanks Polytech, for training those men and women that like to work with their hands. We need as many of them as we can get.”

Since there is no charge for labor, the job is done for a lot less than at a commercial body shop. The customer pays for all supplies and makes a small “donation” to Polytech. Since projects “are under no timeline restrictions, they get done slowly — but professionally,” Goldman said.

For Phillips, the bill from the paint supplier was about $950 for paint, reducer and primers. And “I paid Polytech $150 for sandpaper, etc. A paint shop would have been $3,000 easily, maybe more.

“The prep was what impressed me,” Phillips continued. “They sanded that truck down to bare metal. I just couldn’t see a commercial shop taking that much time in prep.

“Being an apprenticed carpenter, I was into helping some younger apprentices get some experience so I left deciding to do a clear coat job up to the instructor, based on what the students needed to learn. He chose to shoot clear. That probably bumped the material price up $300-400 more for clear.”

Putting on the clear coat ‘is harder to learn but it looks very nice and some young guys learned something they could use later,” Phillips said.

Just don’t hope to get your vehicle painted soon.

“It is too late in the (school) year to be taking any more complete paint jobs,” Goldman explained. “We are only accepting small/quick projects” now.

Polytech provides other services to the public, including auto repair, cosmetology and dog grooming. According to its website, these services “are provided by our talented students who are under the direction of their teachers and need to gain experience to master their areas of study.”